Every citation is a good citation, right? So I was pleased to see that even the little pamphlet I wrote about my lab last year has a couple of citations now (ok, one is a self citation, please don’t tell anyone).

“You are not working for me; I am working with you” is what I said back then.

And my paper got cited here: “Are Leadership and Management Essential for Good Research? An Interview Study of Genetic Researchers” by Alison L. Antes, Adelina Mart and James M. DuBois in the Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics.

Hello, my fellow PIs, here is a question for you: Did you get trained well for your job?

Silly question, of course you did. Years of study and examinations culminating in a PhD have obviously trained you well in all things science.

But that’s not what I mean. Details of experiments and algorithms –what you learn in a PhD– are only a small part of a PI’s job. Once you start leading a group, the tough nuts to crack are people-problems.

This is one of the first sentences in a document I have written for new starters in my lab. I want to be explicit about the expectations I have of them. And being proactive and independent is very high on my list.

Most projects in my lab take years from start to finish. So it is important for me to manage the expectations my students and postdocs may have. Here is a plot I have developed to discuss the different stages of a scientific project with them and to prepare them for what’s ahead.

The four stages of a scientific project: Explore! Dig! Refine! Sell! And the stage you want to avoid: Waste! Plus the prevalent emotion in each stage and the key skill you will need to successfully navigate it. (x-axis it time, y-axis is work you’ve put in.)

I recently sat on a grant review panel for the first time. The diversity of topics and projects we had to rank was immense and I felt very ill-equipped to scientifically judge most of the grants, which were not related at all to my own research.

In particular, I was the lead discussant for an obstetrics project that was clearly outside my expertise. So I started my discussion by saying:

“I don’t have a problem being outside my comfort zone, but this one is so far out of it that I can’t even see my comfort zone anymore.”